St Cuthbert’s landscape competition winner announced

Gillespies has been awarded £10,000 and the potential to deliver its Greenway Ribbon concept at the Carlisle garden village.

The Greenway Ribbon was one of three proposals that had been shortlisted in the St Cuthbert Garden Village ‘Start with the Park’ competition, which was launched in summer 2021. The other two designs had been created by teams led by AFL Architects and BMD and JTP.

Each of the shortlisted teams were awarded an honorarium of £5,000 to further develop their ideas.

A judging panel made up of Carlisle City Council, the Landscape Institute, Untied Utilities and a variety of community representatives chose the winner.

The panel described The Greenway Ribbon was “an innovative and professional approach to a landscape-based placemaking project.

“The theme of ‘Start with a Park’ is very apparent throughout the design and does an excellent job of re-wilding an area of good agricultural land,” the panel continued.

The Greenway Ribbon entry from Gillespies. Credit: via Carlisle City Council

Gillespies proposal used a linear greenway ribbon that would flow throughout the park’s length. The ribbon would serve multiple purposes, with its unique shape allowing for the creation of pavilions, walkways, play features, seating areas, pedestrian crossings and more. Gillespies had said the ribbon would be made with recycled material.

While the council said its intention is to give a contract for the delivery of The Greenway Ribbon to Gillespies, the council noted that landowner negotiations are still underway which could lead to a delay in the award.

St Cuthbert’s will be located near Durdar and Blackwell. In the adopted Carlisle local plan, St Cuthbert’s will have up to 10,000 new homes. A masterplan framework was finalised in October 2020 for the garden village, with a strategic design planning document approved in April 2021.

The goal is for the St Cuthbert’s park itself to become a visitor destination. The park will serve as the heart of the community, connecting nearby neighbourhoods and villages together with the countryside.

Landscape architect Gillespies has offices in Manchester, Leeds, Oxford, London, Abu Dhabi and Moscow. Other North West projects include the Winsford Town Centre masterplan, Mayfield Park in Manchester and the £1bn Birkenhead regeneration scheme.